Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Weekend of Relaxing, Except for Taxes

I haven't really done anything since Thursday's weights. But the weekend was full of fun activities and getting outside to enjoy the awesome weather.

Saturday we went to Keeneland - a horse race track down in Lexington. It was really fun, but also crowded enough that it was tricky to handle deciding on which horse to bet, getting in line to bet, then getting back out to watch and see the race in the general admission zones. Thank goodness for the very large screen in the middle of the field. Without that and the announcer, it would have been very hard to tell what was going on during the race.

The track, empty. Tractors pulling discs raked the field between each race. Also, the screens had all of the updated betting information on them.


















The screen, and a jockey on a horse going by heading to the start (I think).


















The circles where all of the next race's horses were paraded before heading out. Each had its own circle to walk in until dizzy.


















As we were leaving, we saw the...well I don't know what it's called, but I'll call it the Jockey Launching Ceremony. The horses were brought over and then the jockeys were launched up onto the horses and then headed out to the track.
























I know nothing about horse racing, math or horses. So this was a very interesting and mind-boggling experience all at the same time. I did win $48.20 on Disco Troop during the 4th or 5th race I believe, so that was fun. It was so fascinating to see the horses' bodies. They are amazing creatures.

Sunday we played disc golf - the first of the year for me. I didn't suck as bad as I thought I would. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and there were a lot of people out enjoying it. I was happy to get a little bit of enjoyment in before I had to go back inside and work on taxes.

2 comments:

Casey said...

It was a really fun weekend to be sure. Disc golf was great, and Keenland was a ton of fun. Good times!

Butch said...

They call that call for the jockeys to mount their steed "riders up" but launching is good to. They are so short to the size of the horse that with a little more effort you would think they might land on the other side of the animal.